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Jan 6, 2010

I NEED YOUR OPINION

I am looking for your help fellow bloggers because I want to do the right thing. The other day I posted that beautiful photo of the parrots. It was easy to find the photographer to ask permission to use it and he was pleased that I had asked. He had seen it on other blogs and no one had asked. I have also contacted National Geographic in the past to get permission to use a photo as well as many other people who one way or another had something I wished to use on my blogs. I ask first.

Now here is my dilemma. Without thinking this through I have been posting some power point presentations on my blog. These have been ones sent to me in emails over the years. I would say that 99% of them have no identifying names or information on them. Many are a compilation of many different peoples pictures. How would one ever find out who they belong to?

What do you think about this? If there is no way to find out who something belongs to i.e. it isn't on a web site but has been made into something different and emailed around the world is it still off limits?

Do you post it with a disclaimer and a promise to remove it if the owner identifies themselves and asks you to?

Do you keep your hot little hands off of it?

Is it "fair use" and of no commercial value?

I really want to do the right thing. As much as I adore these power point files and I know you do too should I not be posting them at all? Help me out here with your clear thinking heads. I feel badly about this.

24 comments:

it is hard isn't it...if I post something from a e-mail...I usually tell everyone I received it in a e-mail...I guess you can just do the best you can...and if you post something by mistake...remove it and appologize..

I think if something has been passed around for use it's sort of "open season" on it. I mean, most of the stuff was created for public consumption. If you find a name or something to credit for it, then do. If you don't? I think in some cases it doesn't even matter.I would post stuff with a disclaimer if you feel like you want to cover your bases.

I can't legally answer that, however, if it comes in email, I would assume it is free gratis.

I have been asked to use my photos and have given permission. I have not copyrighted them because I don't know how. Now if I see one of my images on a best seller, I shall be aggravated but nothing I can do since I am not protected.

If you cannot find someone to give the credit to and as long as you do not try to pass it off as your own I think that is all which is expected. With blogs, we are doing something we love to do and are not making $$ with them. I would think if someone would contact you and can show it is their work give them the choice of you taking it off or giving them the credit. Personally, I would think they would rather have the credit.

Strictly speaking, those images belong to the person(s) that created them -- and that may or may not be the same person that compiled them into the PP presentation. The accompanying prose belongs to the person that penned it. So to cover yourself I would acknowledge that the work is not yours, and you don't know whose it is.

For Gail: a work is copyrighted the minute it becomes tangible. You do not have to register it; it's yours. Of course, it's easier to prove yourself as creator if you document it in some way. Emailing or snail-mailing to yourself so that the work is date-stamped will suffice. But unless it's stupendously special, it's not likely any of us will spend the $ necessary to sue someone for copyright infringement!

I agree with Foley. Don't take credit for it and just disclose that you don't know who's it is. The reason I signed up for a copyright was to protect my images because the way I read it was anything posted on the internet is fair-game unless it is protected.

I do appreciate all your answers to this one. I do know that just because it is on the internet it isn't free to take. Just think of our blogs. They are ours and sometimes people do take them and rerun them on their own sites. I have also seen cases where a family's photo was used in a print ad without their permission.

Jean gives good advice and I would like to add that there is a fairly new site called Myows which stands for My Original Works. You can upload any work you do to the site and they date/time stamp it and send you a certificate via email. This is a free site and it has a lot of good information on it.

Keep the comments coming. I really want to know how you feel about this. Especially if you are a photographer.

Well my friend, I think it's very good of you to be concerned! My opinion is...if it's out there on the web, email, etc. and does not have explicit copyright instructions...I believe it's "fair game"! Just this week I used a couple of pictures that I found on the web...very well known prints! I have no idea who the artist is or was and I see them all the time in different places! I am always more careful when the picture or photo belongs to someone else though! Anyway...just my opinion! I enjoyed reading everyone's comments and thought they were all very good!

Lori, I really think that as long as you acknowledge that you received the images via e-mail or the web and you do not know who they belong to you are being fair. I know that if someone contacted you and claimed it was their work that you would credit them immediately. I think your second option is the most reasonable. Don't beat yourself up over this! Kathy

You have raised an excellent topic for all of us bloggers. I see that you have received some good advice. I agree. You aren't reaping any financial gain. They came to your computer. You would remove them if someone asked you to.Now. STOP feeling bad!!

Hi Lori - Boy, this is a toughie. I try now to give credit on photos or whatever where I can - at least I cite the source. Bo says if it appears in many different forms and forums on the internet you aren't plagiarizing if you cite where it came from (college rules). I have had my work picked up and rerun without permission and I've also been asked. I don't mind if snippets of the whole blog post are run or if the whole thing is used, providing they link me. That hasn't always happened. My photos I watermark so they hit the internet and are really free game and I hope someone can use them. I wouldn't expect to get contacted because of the aspect of them being photos. And my watermark is there. I wish ALL photos came with a watermark, frankly. And it's good advertising for the blog.

I'm SUPER interested in the site you reported where our work can be officially stored, though our own blogs and commenters would certainly bear witness. I'm all for multi-layering. Thanks for your deep thoughtfulness on this matter and good to see you!!! Happy New Year, friend!

This is a hard one! - I think if you have received it on an email, and it has obviously been 'around the world' a couple of times this way (you usually know this if you receive it from a few different contacts) I really don't see how you can identify who it originally belonged to or who is featured in it. I'm with the train of thought that if you received it in an email state this and offer to update your information if 'an owner' makes contact with you.....

I agree it is a tough call. I really believe that if you try to get permission, and if it is emailed to you and there are no identifying trademarks, or credit.. Disclaimer is the best way if it is something you think should be shared. I like the new look too!!!!

I would do a disclaimer on it just to be safe. I just wanted to pop over and thank you for the visit and comment on my blog. I'm just tryin' to figure out why I am being prompted toward, Blogging for Dummies. This is makin' this farm chick just a little insecure! Heeeheehe!

I have recipes on my blog that I have no idea who to credit. But I just put "Recipe adapted from "not a clue". I don't want people to think it's my recipe but I don't know who to credit so I just leave it at that. So far no one has ever commented that they know who wrote the recipe but if they ever did I would certainly revise my blog.

A lot of my pictures are from the web but only if they are "generic" as in I find them several places. I won't use a photo from a blog address...cause I think that would be like stealing.

When I first started this (blogging) I would always ask... I still do, when I know where the picture came from.

I still remember how "hurt" I felt when a particular blog did not answer my request to use a bear cub photo....I wrote the post and went without the photo. Then I finally caught on....that whole site is all about using other peoples pictures... boy did I feel dumb, no wonder my e-mail went unanswered... it wasn't their picture.

I think when we "publish" something on our blog, it is rather like publishing in a book. People may use it, but they need to give credit. When I google for an image of some kind, I have no way of knowing if I found the ORIGINAL source or not, so I give credit to the blogsite from which I got the photo.

I think they same would apply to your power points. Give credit to the source from which YOU got it.

If we ALL began giving proper credit - - - we'd KNOW where something came from, the credit would still be there on the site where we found it.

If I don't know the source I won't publish it. Someone could easily take one of your blog posts, paste it in an email and send to someone, who then passes it on and then it gets passed on again. You never gave permission and never meant for it to be used by someone you've never heard of, or from.

i've thought about this as well. i've just been using them without permission... eek! but i figure like u mention, i'm not making money off it so i would figure they might appreciate it maybe, at least that's what i tell myself. awhile ago i just asked one of my photographer friends to use his stuff. he was actually thrilled being a good friend of mine so i try to use his stuff exclusively now but sometimes i just can't find the right one. so im awaiting a reply of another friend and i think maybe that's what i'll do, seek out photographers i might know and just use their stuff.

Better late than never, thanks for asking me to still post my long-winded response to this question Lori:

You raise an excellent question! As a graphic designer I deal with this issue so often, that I've sworn I'm going to make a digital recording of my answer. The simple answer is no. No, just because its on the web does not give you permission to use it. No, just because you received it in an email does not give you the right to put it on your blog. No, just because you can't find out who the original photographer is does not mean you can put it on your blog and hope you won't get caught. Putting a disclaimer does not protect you in any way. Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it right. Stealing from the web is equivalent to walking into a store and walking out with an item without paying for it. Does this sound harsh? It is meant to inform you on the legalities, to protect you.

Remember when everyone was downloading songs illegally from the web? No one did anything for a long time and then WHAM people got caught and paid thousands of dollars in fines. Do you even want to chance that? So, I'm not trying to be mean, I really just want people to think about what they're doing. Would you want that cute photo of your granddaughter ending up in someone's ad somewhere? It has happened. I have stupid clients try to pull this on me all the time, I mean all the time. I can tell when something is off the web and they still insist it is not. When I tell them they will need to sign a disclaimer relieving me of the $55,000 fine should this be disputed in court, they suddenly decide to use a different photo or actually pay the photographer for its usage.

The good news and yes there is good news, you can find images that you can freely use. In Google, go to Images and then click on "advanced search" and look for: Usage Right - Return images that are and then use the drop down menu and select "labeled for reuse." When you go to the images in the results they will tell you what you are allowed to do with that image. Most are under a Creative Commons License and when you click on that for the photo it will tell you if you must attribute it to the photographer, if you can use it for commercial purposes, etc. Flickr and other sites have the same type search capabilities. Try wikipedia, they have lots of photos issued under this type of license.

Alternatively you can pay for a subscription to a photo site. Before the recession, I paid $239 a month to use their photos for my work. Millions of images at my disposal and the photographers got paid each time I downloaded one. It was a win-win situation.

Now I know that bloggers are not going to pay that kind of money, but there are sites, such as iStock.com where you can buy photos for as little as a dollar.

Remember what your mother said, "If Johnny jumped off the roof, would you do it to?" This applies to using photos off the web.